GSCloud WFS: IllegalArgumentException: Null charset name - Settings problem?

lroeglin · January 14, 2026, 4:10pm

Hello everyone,

I have a “testing instance” of Geoserver Cloud deployed on K8s. While working on automating configuration settings using the REST-API I think I have messed up some config settings as I am suddenly getting an java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Null charset name on the WFS service.

While not exactly the same it seems vaguely related to this issue where a faulty settings configuration seemed to be the cause.

Is there any simple way to reset all the pgconfig settings to start over with a vanilla instance?

Any help is appreciated!

Cheers,
Lars

Error-details:

Stacktrace

2026-01-13 11:43:05.924 ERROR 1 — [nio-8080-exec-1] org.geoserver.ows :

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Null charset name
at java.base/java.nio.charset.Charset.lookup(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.nio.charset.Charset.forName(Unknown Source)
at org.geoserver.wfs.GetCapabilities.run(GetCapabilities.java:89)
at org.geoserver.wfs.DefaultWebFeatureService20.getCapabilities(DefaultWebFeatureService20.java:91)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DirectMethodHandleAccessor.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils.invokeJoinpointUsingReflection(AopUtils.java:344)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.invokeJoinpoint(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:198)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.proceed(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:163)
at org.geoserver.ows.util.RequestObjectLogger.invoke(RequestObjectLogger.java:29)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.ReflectiveMethodInvocation.proceed(ReflectiveMethodInvocation.java:186)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.JdkDynamicAopProxy.invoke(JdkDynamicAopProxy.java:241)
at jdk.proxy2/jdk.proxy2.$Proxy204.getCapabilities(Unknown Source)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DirectMethodHandleAccessor.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.geoserver.ows.Dispatcher.execute(Dispatcher.java:949)
at org.geoserver.ows.Dispatcher.handleRequestInternal(Dispatcher.java:270)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.AbstractController.handleRequest(AbstractController.java:177)
at org.geoserver.cloud.wfs.app.WFSController.dispatch(WFSController.java:112)
at org.geoserver.cloud.wfs.app.WFSController.handleGet(WFSController.java:57)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DirectMethodHandleAccessor.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.doInvoke(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:205)
at org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.invokeForRequest(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:150)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.invokeAndHandle(ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.java:117)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.invokeHandlerMethod(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:903)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.handleInternal(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:809)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.handle(AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.java:87)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:1072)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:965)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:1006)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doGet(FrameworkServlet.java:898)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:529)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.service(FrameworkServlet.java:883)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:623)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:197)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:51)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.cloud.logging.mdc.servlet.MDCAuthenticationFilter.doFilter(MDCAuthenticationFilter.java:47)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:352)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerCompositeFilter$NestedFilterChain.doFilter(GeoServerCompositeFilter.java:67)
at org.springframework.security.web.access.intercept.AuthorizationFilter.doFilter(AuthorizationFilter.java:100)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerCompositeFilter$NestedFilterChain.doFilter(GeoServerCompositeFilter.java:71)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerCompositeFilter.doFilter(GeoServerCompositeFilter.java:88)
at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:361)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerCompositeFilter$NestedFilterChain.doFilter(GeoServerCompositeFilter.java:67)
at org.springframework.security.web.access.ExceptionTranslationFilter.doFilter(ExceptionTranslationFilter.java:126)
at org.springframework.security.web.access.ExceptionTranslationFilter.doFilter(ExceptionTranslationFilter.java:120)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerCompositeFilter$NestedFilterChain.doFilter(GeoServerCompositeFilter.java:71)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerCompositeFilter.doFilter(GeoServerCompositeFilter.java:88)
at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:361)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerAnonymousAuthenticationFilter.doFilter(GeoServerAnonymousAuthenticationFilter.java:52)
at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:361)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerPreAuthenticationFilter.doFilter(GeoServerPreAuthenticationFilter.java:70)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilter.doFilter(GeoServerRequestHeaderAuthenticationFilter.java:59)
at org.geoserver.cloud.security.gateway.sharedauth.GatewaySharedAuthenticationFilter$ClientFilter.doFilter(GatewaySharedAuthenticationFilter.java:160)
at org.geoserver.cloud.security.gateway.sharedauth.GatewaySharedAuthenticationFilter.doFilter(GatewaySharedAuthenticationFilter.java:129)
at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:361)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerCompositeFilter$NestedFilterChain.doFilter(GeoServerCompositeFilter.java:67)
at org.springframework.security.web.authentication.www.BasicAuthenticationFilter.doFilterInternal(BasicAuthenticationFilter.java:168)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:117)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerCompositeFilter$NestedFilterChain.doFilter(GeoServerCompositeFilter.java:71)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerCompositeFilter.doFilter(GeoServerCompositeFilter.java:88)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerBasicAuthenticationFilter.doFilter(GeoServerBasicAuthenticationFilter.java:80)
at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:361)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerCompositeFilter$NestedFilterChain.doFilter(GeoServerCompositeFilter.java:67)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerSecurityContextPersistenceFilter$1.doFilterInternal(GeoServerSecurityContextPersistenceFilter.java:66)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:117)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerCompositeFilter$NestedFilterChain.doFilter(GeoServerCompositeFilter.java:71)
at org.geoserver.security.filter.GeoServerCompositeFilter.doFilter(GeoServerCompositeFilter.java:88)
at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy$VirtualFilterChain.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:361)
at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy.doFilterInternal(FilterChainProxy.java:225)
at org.springframework.security.web.FilterChainProxy.doFilter(FilterChainProxy.java:190)
at org.geoserver.security.GeoServerSecurityFilterChainProxy.doFilter(GeoServerSecurityFilterChainProxy.java:139)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.cloud.logging.mdc.servlet.SpringEnvironmentMdcFilter.doFilterInternal(SpringEnvironmentMdcFilter.java:70)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.cloud.logging.mdc.servlet.HttpRequestMdcFilter.doFilterInternal(HttpRequestMdcFilter.java:86)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.springframework.security.oauth2.client.filter.OAuth2ClientContextFilter.doFilter(OAuth2ClientContextFilter.java:64)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.ogcapi.LandingPageSlashFilter.doFilter(LandingPageSlashFilter.java:53)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.flow.controller.IpBlacklistFilter.doFilter(IpBlacklistFilter.java:87)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.flow.ControlFlowCallback.doFilter(ControlFlowCallback.java:266)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.filters.HTTPMethodFilter.doFilter(HTTPMethodFilter.java:34)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.filters.LoggingFilter.doFilter(LoggingFilter.java:180)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.filters.ThreadLocalsCleanupFilter.doFilter(ThreadLocalsCleanupFilter.java:28)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.platform.AdvancedDispatchFilter.doFilter(AdvancedDispatchFilter.java:39)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.filters.SpringDelegatingFilter$Chain.doFilter(SpringDelegatingFilter.java:70)
at org.geoserver.ogcapi.LandingPageSlashFilter.doFilter(LandingPageSlashFilter.java:53)
at org.geoserver.filters.SpringDelegatingFilter$Chain.doFilter(SpringDelegatingFilter.java:67)
at org.geoserver.flow.controller.IpBlacklistFilter.doFilter(IpBlacklistFilter.java:87)
at org.geoserver.filters.SpringDelegatingFilter$Chain.doFilter(SpringDelegatingFilter.java:67)
at org.geoserver.flow.ControlFlowCallback.doFilter(ControlFlowCallback.java:266)
at org.geoserver.filters.SpringDelegatingFilter$Chain.doFilter(SpringDelegatingFilter.java:67)
at org.geoserver.filters.HTTPMethodFilter.doFilter(HTTPMethodFilter.java:34)
at org.geoserver.filters.SpringDelegatingFilter$Chain.doFilter(SpringDelegatingFilter.java:67)
at org.geoserver.filters.LoggingFilter.doFilter(LoggingFilter.java:180)
at org.geoserver.filters.SpringDelegatingFilter$Chain.doFilter(SpringDelegatingFilter.java:67)
at org.geoserver.filters.SpringDelegatingFilter.doFilter(SpringDelegatingFilter.java:41)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.filters.FlushSafeFilter.doFilter(FlushSafeFilter.java:41)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.springframework.web.filter.RequestContextFilter.doFilterInternal(RequestContextFilter.java:100)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.springframework.web.filter.FormContentFilter.doFilterInternal(FormContentFilter.java:93)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.cloud.logging.accesslog.AccessLogServletFilter.doFilterInternal(AccessLogServletFilter.java:74)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.springframework.boot.actuate.metrics.web.servlet.WebMvcMetricsFilter.doFilterInternal(WebMvcMetricsFilter.java:96)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.springframework.web.filter.CharacterEncodingFilter.doFilterInternal(CharacterEncodingFilter.java:201)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.geoserver.cloud.logging.mdc.servlet.MDCCleaningFilter.doFilterInternal(MDCCleaningFilter.java:54)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.springframework.web.filter.ForwardedHeaderFilter.doFilterInternal(ForwardedHeaderFilter.java:156)
at org.springframework.web.filter.OncePerRequestFilter.doFilter(OncePerRequestFilter.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:142)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:166)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:88)
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:481)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:127)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:83)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:72)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:344)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.service(Http11Processor.java:398)
at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProcessorLight.process(AbstractProcessorLight.java:63)
at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$ConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:939)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(NioEndpoint.java:1831)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SocketProcessorBase.run(SocketProcessorBase.java:52)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:973)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:491)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:63)
at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

roarbra · January 15, 2026, 6:32am

Hi,

The stack trace is referring to this line of code:

    capsTransformer.setEncoding(
            Charset.forName(wfs.getGeoServer().getSettings().getCharset()));

Here it could certainly been a test for null to avoid the NullPointerException you experience. What should have been returned from getCharset() is the content of the following field in the user interface.

You could start by changing this to see if that has some effect.

Best regards,

Roar Brænden

lroeglin · January 15, 2026, 8:23am

Hi Roar,

many thanks for looking into it! Indeed that was the faulty setting, although I cannot trace back how this has been changed from the default and how i missed that setting during my searches for the cause.

Instead of testing for null in your mentioned code block it would probably be even better to just fallback to UTF-8 which is the default mentioned in the docs and “which is recommended for most users” anyway.

Service response settings

Character set

Specifies the global character encoding that will be used in XML responses. Default is UTF-8, which is recommended for most users. A full list of supported character sets is available on the IANA Charset Registry.

Cheers,
Lars